


Steel

by brightlikeloulou



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Needles, Past Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2020-03-13 11:19:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18939874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brightlikeloulou/pseuds/brightlikeloulou
Summary: Paul may be the biggest badass of the apocalypse, but he's still scared of needles.





	Steel

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a headcanon of mine that Paul's scared of needles x

Paul winced a little as he pulled his shirt off, and he tossed it over the back of a nearby chair before he looked down at his side. He'd been outside the walls with Aaron, the pair of them taking down a small herd of walkers.

Aaron was clumsy and managed to fall on his ass in a patch of mud, so Paul had quickly gone over to help, getting rid of the walkers that climbed on top of him. He'd made the stupid mistake to do a jumping kick, which successfully took down a walker, but when he'd landed on the mud, he like Aaron had slipped.

He fell on the ground, and as he went down, managed to cut his side on a piece of old construction steel. It stung like hell and was bleeding, so he and Aaron had quickly made their way back to the Hilltop, where after insisting Aaron was fine, Paul went to the med trailer and Aaron went to his own room to shower.

Paul had briefly stopped by where Daryl was sat on a picnic table with Maggie and Dog as they cleaned their knives, and kissed him hello before continuing across The Hilltop.

"Okay, lay down and I'll have a look at it," Enid said as she pulled gloves onto her small hands, smiling at him.

Paul laid down on the examination table.

"So, you fell on steel?" She asked as she came to a stop beside him and began to clean it gently as she examined the severity of the cut.

Paul nodded, "Yeah," he replied, "Cut through my shirt,"

Enid nodded, "Well, I'm definitely going to have to sterilize it, and then I'll stitch it up and cover it with a bandage," she told him.

"It doesn't need stitches," Paul, immediately.

"Yes, it does," Enid replied, raising a plucked eyebrow at him.

"I've had worse and haven't needed stitches," Paul grunted, beginning to feel butterflies in his stomach as his heart pounded in his chest.

"And it would have taken much longer to heal, had a higher chance of getting infected, and would have left a larger scar," Enid replied.

"I don't care," Paul said, "Just put a bandage over it,"

"Paul," Enid started, a type of authority in her voice that he rarely heard, "I'm the doctor, and If I say you need stitches, you're gonna sit you ass down and stay still as I do my job,"

Paul stared at her, chewing at the inside of his cheek, "I don't like needles," he finally forced himself to say, his cheeks flushing in embarrassment.

Enid looked surprised for a moment, "You're scared of needles?" she asked. Paul grunted and refused to meet her eyes. She sighed, "Well, you're not getting out of this because it's necessary, but I can go and get Daryl?"

Paul refused to say anything, and she huffed before leaving the med trailer.

 

* * *

  

"Hey, Enid," Daryl heard Maggie say, and he lifted his head to see that the young girl had approached them. He looked down at her gloved hands and felt a pang of nausea to his stomach when he saw the blood that stained them.

"Hi," Enid said with a smile, and after spotting the worried look on Daryl's face, continued, "He's okay, he just needs stitches, and that involves several needles,"

"Ah," Daryl said and placed his knife down on the table before he stood up.

He knew about Paul's fear of needles. He knew how the man was scared of them because his parents were drug addicts and he'd watched them inject themselves, and that his father and his friends had held him down and forced him to take the injections himself when he was a young child before he was taken into the care of the system. He remembered feeling furious when Paul told him that he could remember hearing his father, mother, and friends laugh as they shoved the needle into the arm, and then watched the drugs affect his small body.

"I'll see you later, Mags," Daryl said, directing Dog to stay with the woman, Maggie smiled and waved at him before Daryl turned and followed Enid to the med trailer.

"Hey, Paul," he said softly once he was inside, his eyes falling on where Paul was laying on the examination table shirtless.

"Hi," Paul grumbled at him, and Daryl came to a stop beside him, taking his hand and bringing it to his lips so he could press a kiss against his soft skin.

"How ya feeling?" he asked as Enid got everything she needed to stitch up Paul's cut.

"I don't want a needle," Paul grunted, meeting his eyes. Daryl felt guilty at the look he was giving at him. Paul looked like he was desperately waiting for Daryl to tell him that he didn't need to get the needle.

"I know," Daryl said softly, brushing some of Paul's hair away from his face, "It will only take a few minutes,"

Paul almost growled and tore his eyes away from him.

Enid came back to the table, "Okay, so I'll give you a couple of little injections around the cut to numb it, and then you won't even feel me start to stitch it up,"

Paul didn't say anything, but he did close his eyes and took Daryl's hand, squeezing it tightly as Enid placed her hand on his side.

"Take a couple of deep breaths," Daryl whispered, using the hand that wasn't being clutched by Paul's to run his fingers through the younger man's hair.

"Okay, starting now," Enid said gently, and Daryl watched as Paul screwed his face up and squeezed Daryl's hand so hard that it hurt, so Daryl knew Enid had started numbing his cut.

"You're okay," Daryl said, knowing that the last time Paul had had a needle, (done by Siddiq) he'd had a panic attack and nightmares for several days afterward.

It didn't take long after that for everything to be finished. Paul was quiet as Enid bandaged the now stitched up cut, and Daryl helped him put his shirt back on as Enid excused herself to go and clean up.

Daryl cupped one of Paul's cheeks and tilted his head up to make the younger man look at him, "See, all okay," he said gently.

Paul nodded, "Can we go back to the trailer?" he asked.

Daryl nodded and took hold of his hand as he stood up, "Yeah come on, I'll get started on dinner, and you can read a couple of chapters of that new book you started,"

Paul nodded, "Yeah, that sounds good," he said, clearly not in a fantastic mood as after having to endure being given needles.

Daryl leaned down and pecked his lips, and said a thank you to Enid before he led Daryl out of the trailer.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos & comments are loved & inspire me to write more! 
> 
> Check out my tumblr where I talk about my ships and post updates! @iiloulouii


End file.
